Amount of trees removed from a forest must at least equal the amount a forest is able to replace naturally.
The amount of carbon stored in trees depends on tree species, growing conditions, age of tree and density of surrounding trees. However it is generally recognised that around 35% of the green weight of a tree is water and after drying (at 70oC), 50% of the dry weight of a tree is carbon (Ximenes et al., 2008). Furthermore, 20% of tree biomass can be below ground level in the roots.
Carbon accounting refers to the calculations of amounts of carbon stored in forests and in particular amounts in carbon pools within forests, such as in the soil, woody biomass living and decomposing, the atmosphere and wood products.
Forests sequester more carbon than they emit, thereby helping to offset the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Harvesting of trees from both native and plantation forests has been estimated to remove approximately 8 million tonnes of carbon per year, while prescribed burning, wildfires and wood for energy remove another 4.4 million tonnes, leaving a net sink of around 45million tonnes of carbon per year in Australia.
Wildfire emissions can vary enormously depending on the severity of the fire season. For example, the 2006/07 Great Divide fires in Victoria released an estimated 20 to 40 million tonnes of CO2, and the 2009 ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires released 8.5 million tonnes of CO2 (2009, Vic Bushfires Royal Commission Report)
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Forestry Matters!Forestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
To download this file
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Trees for carbon sequestrationThis factsheet discusses what is carbon sequestration, how to estimate carbon sequestration, carbon accounting and more. |
To download this file
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Carbon and its storage in forest and wood productsClass activities on carbon, cycling & storage. |
To download this file
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Forestry Matters!Forestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
To download this file
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Planet Ark - Schools Tree dayEach year in July, around 2500 schools across Australia take part in Schools Tree Day. Students nation-wide have learnt how to plant, and care for the seedlings they grow. Become involved. |
To view this link
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Tree tape for kidsA downloadable tree measuring tape for children which translates how much CO2 absorbed in the tree into the amount of activities rather than grams of CO2, e.g. 1 hour on a flight or 2 days of breathing. |
To view this link
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Wild Forest Adventure Activity BookWild Forest Adventure is an activity based companion booklet especially designed for use with the Forests NSW website. |
To download this file
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Wild Forest Adventure online gameThe Wild Forest Adventure section has been especially designed for students, to provide interesting and relevant information about the forest environment, in a stimulating and fun way. |
To view this link
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Forestry Matters! websiteForestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
To view this link
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Going Bush - Forest's role in the carbon equationThe boys talk to a trio of carbon specialists about the part forests and its products can play in the fight against global warming. They see how it’s measured in Victoria’s Wombat Forest and hear how storage of carbon in forests should be compared to a dam, with inputs from growing trees and regular withdrawals especially for timber to replace fossil-fuel intensive materials, rather than simply locked away. |
To watch this video |
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Planet Ark - Schools Tree dayEach year in July, around 2500 schools across Australia take part in Schools Tree Day. Students nation-wide have learnt how to plant, and care for the seedlings they grow. Become involved. |
To view this link
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Planet Ark's Make It Wood - Do Your World Some GoodThis website developed by Planet Ark provides a wealth of information regarding sustainably sourced timber. |
To view this link
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Tree tape for kidsA downloadable tree measuring tape for children which translates how much CO2 absorbed in the tree into the amount of activities rather than grams of CO2, e.g. 1 hour on a flight or 2 days of breathing. |
To view this link
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Wood.Naturally BetterWood. Naturally Better.™ is a program designed to help professionals and consumers understand how they can play a part in tackling climate change by using one of the most natural materials – wood. |
To view this link
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Going Bush - Forest's role in the carbon equationThe boys talk to a trio of carbon specialists about the part forests and its products can play in the fight against global warming. They see how it’s measured in Victoria’s Wombat Forest and hear how storage of carbon in forests should be compared to a dam, with inputs from growing trees and regular withdrawals especially for timber to replace fossil-fuel intensive materials, rather than simply locked away. |
To watch this video |
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Wild Forest Adventure online gameThe Wild Forest Adventure section has been especially designed for students, to provide interesting and relevant information about the forest environment, in a stimulating and fun way. |
To view this link
|
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Forest, wood and Australian carbon balanceInformation on the extend to which plantations and commerical forests, as well as the wood products produced by those forests, contribute to Australia's carbon balance. |
To download this file
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